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After a three-weeks intense poll, you guys had chosen Teal Wicks as your new Wicked Personality of the Year 2010.

This American singer and stage actress, best known for her performance of Elphaba in the San Francisco and Los Angeles productions of the musical Wicked and to reprise that role next January in Broadway, has been awarded after winning the poll with over 20,000 votes (42%).

Second place was for Felicia Ricci (@feliciaricci) with an amazing 12,900 votes (27%) and in third came Dee Roscioli with over 6,000 votes (13%).

Today I bring you the review of the last show for Eden Espinosa, Kendra Kassebaum, and Nicolas Dromard in San Francisco on the evening of Saturday, June 26th, 2010. This was written by Liz Osborn and published in Witches of Oz and her blog. She was fortunate enough to see them all perform in their last show. Here is what happened that day…

Published by Lauren Greene to the FB group "Fans of Nicolas Dromard"

The electricity in the air was palpable. There were so many people in the theater that I knew, and we were all talking and laughing and being excited. My seat was in Row D, seat 4, so I was on the right side of the theater… not too far right and only three rows back (yes 3, there’s no Row A on the far side!) so the view was perfect.

Show ended up starting a few minutes late; not surprising considering they were probably all running around backstage like crazy people, sharing the love and all that jazz. But soon enough, Bryan Perri [conductor] brought his baton down for the first note and everyone was riveted.

Immediately after the Ozian yelled, “Look! It’s Glinda!” the audience exploded. And we did not shut up for at least a good minute. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but you sit there and stare at the clock for a minute straight and you’ll feel how long it is. It was amazing. And Kendra couldn’t do anything but stand in that bubble and grin her beautiful head off. Even the Ozians down below were cheering, remaining in character all the while.

The show continued, lots of heart even in an opener like this. I was watching Nicolas a little bit in this scene too, because he’s in the ensemble for this number, and whenever he interacted with another Ozian (generally female, I believe he dances with Holly or Annie or maybe both) they were really sweet with each other, and the scripted hugs meaning even more than they usually do.

Eden’s entrance warranted a boatload of applause as well. It seemed like Kendra didn’t even want to go offstage. Even Jody got applause when she marched in as Madame Morrible, and she’s not leaving the cast! It just shows how hyped up the crowd was. Eden blew the top off this number; this was only the fourth time I’d seen her, and all of the times prior she’d (unfortunately) been off her game. So it was lovely to finally be able to hear her sing the way I’d heard she could do. Riffs all over the place.

“What Is This Feeling” was really good, as well. Kendra inserted a few *snap snap* flourishes, like, “Come get this, b*tch,” and it was cute, and Eden imitated it a few times later on. There was even a moment after the ensemble kicks in and they’re all running around the stage and singing together where she rose her voice about the clamour for added effect on “I LAID EYES ON YOU!” Eden imitated Kendra’s hand-raised flailing perfectly, to hilarious effect.

In Dancing Through Life, as Teal_Wicks_For_Good (Jacquie) mentioned, it was a little tricky to time Nic’s entrance applause! I had my hands poised to go as soon as he rolled in, but since TWFG was right behind me, I let her cue it, and it ended up happening as soon as Fiyero and Avaric did their little handshake-jig. It was cut a little shorter than I would’ve liked, though, because Eden went ahead and delivered her line.

Nic bonked Etai on the nose with the book he later flings offstage. Hahaha. Etai was obviously not expecting it at all whatsoever because he almost completely busted up laughing. Kendra also whacked him good-naturedly with her purse later on in the same scene. 🙂 Hilarious antics.

Eden’s dance was funnier than ever, and deliberately slow and kooky. Glinda’s rebuttal was deliberate and graceful, the standard I’ve come to expect from Kendra.

Popular was phenomenal. Kendra really put her all into it, and it’s different every single time with this woman. My favorite moments included the little moon/underwear flash from Kendra as she LA LAAA’d, and the “whirrr zzz” noises she makes during the ballgown wand-waving… and when she hands Elphie the mirror, Kendra put her finger under Eden’s chin, brought her up to eye level, and said, “You’re. Beautiful.” and everyone’s hearts went “Awww”.

Defying Gravity was amazing. I love Eden’s timing when she rises after Kendra puts the cape around her. Slowly, until the music peaks, and then she raises her head. Everything was so poignant and real. Kendra looked like she was genuinely fighting to get away from the guards, and I’ve seen her just “struggle” as called for by the script. The last notes of the song were just amazing, Eden riffing all over the place, conducting the last note with her broom and ending to thunderous applause. One of my favorite moments is when they kill all the lights, but the spotlights take just milliseconds longer to cool down than the others, so even though it’s dark you can still see Elphaba’s face lit among the darkness. Happens every time and it’s so cool. Anyway. Everyone was on their feet as the house lights came back up.

Anyway, after a few more amazing cupcakes (hee hee) it was time for act II! Much to our dismay, one of our friends ran back into the theater to tell us that Fiama’s name was up on the board for Morrible. (We love Fiama, of course, but we were just sad that something happened to Jody.) And sure enough, as the lights dimmed, they announced the change. I think this is my favorite scene of Kendra’s, especially when she sings, “…you didn’t know you crossed until you crossed!” Her voice just fills up the whole theater on that last word and it’s gorgeous. And after Fiyero runs off and Kendra yells after him, I guess her mic was up and you could hear her say “Ohh” worriedly as the Ozians reacted to her cry. I just love how thought-out every. single. aspect. of her performance is. Just that simple “ohh” tells me that Kendra is completely immersed, and that Glinda is actively thinking of her excuse, that she doesn’t have ~lines memorized~, that she’s actually reacting to what’s going on around her. And I love every moment of it.

Deedee blew me away that night in WWotE, and I think it was helped by her real emotion about the departure of the cast. Her final cry, “It was Elphabaaa!” was plaintive and her voice broke and all the emotion she was feeling just poured into the note and it was beautifully heartbreaking.

Kendra didn’t need the “nnn” at the beginning of her low note at the end of “I’m Not That Girl”. She hit it dead on, pure, and gorgeous.

Nicolas and Eden were on fire in ALAYM. Nic didn’t have to reach for his high notes, and their harmonies were perfect. They even took up one of the harmonies at the end; I don’t know if they planned it or have done it before, but it was so, so amazing. (By “took up” I mean like notationally, probably a fifth of the scale.)

Kendra actually didn’t whack Eden’s broom with her wand, and I was a little disappointed because it’s such a good addendum. But I think the scene was a little rushed and they just sort of launched right into the actual catfighting. Nic seemed to fight a little bit against the guards after he’d been grabbed, which I liked.

Eden totally nailed every aspect of No Good Deed. I love that she switches up the timing of some of it, like on the spoken parts (i.e., “Nessa?” etc.), she comes in a beat or two later than you’d normally hear (a la OBCR). It’s just another aspect of her completely unique and thought-out performance and demonstrates her complete musicality.

“For Good” was amazing. It made me tear up, but I didn’t start really crying until the curtain went down. Neka tweeted that the Scarecrow had a drawn-on tear, which I didn’t see until Nic tweeted a picture this afternoon because it was on his upstage side. But that’s still amazing.

Anyway, curtain call, I thought the applause would never end until Deedee finally stepped forward and asked for a moment. She made a short-but-sweet heartfelt, tear-filled speech, and then they waved for a few more moments until the curtain finally, finally came down For Good.

There were more people at the stagedoor than I’d ever seen, and everyone (except Kendra, the mystical unicorn) took the time to go all the way down the line and see everyone that wanted an autograph or a picture. Eden was there the longest, of course, and people left as she signed, but she stayed until the very last group of people could go home happy. It was lovely. I’m going to miss them all dearly, but I hope we gave them a send-off they’ll never forget. Best of luck to them in their future endeavors. ❤

Marcie Dodd replaces Eden Espinosa and Alli Mauzey replaces Kendra Kassebaum as the new witches in the hit musical as Elphaba and Glinda respectively, and will mark the first time the two actresses are back on stage opposite each other since they played the roles on Broadway from November 2008 – February 2009.

Also Cliffton Hall is coming back to Wicked, after leaving the role a couple of years ago in the National Tour, to take over Fiyero.

The actors will take a final bow with WICKED when it closes on September 5, 2010.

The other principal roles in WICKED are performed by Bay Area actress Jody Gelb, who plays Madame Morrible, and Tom McGowan, who plays the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. WICKED also features Paul Slade Smith as Doctor Dillamond, DeeDee Magno Hall as Nessarose, and Etai BenShlomo as Boq.

Alli Mauzey former Glinda in the Broadway production of Wicked is returning to the show to close production in San Francisco as from June 29th 2010 -and ending September 5th.

Alli has recently been confirmed to be returning to the role to replace Kendra Kassebaum. Also in June 6th Eden Espinosa and Nicola Dromard, Elphaba and Fiyero respectivelyin SF production, leaves the show.

Nicolas Dromard currently playing Fiyero in the San Francisco production of Wickes recently announced through his twitter that was cast as Bert in Mary Poppins (National Tour) and will be leaving Wicked with Kendra Kassebaum and Eden Espinosa on the 26th of June.

Nicolas will be on Broadway for a month and then on the tour of mMry Poppins for a year.

Its a sad but good news. We wish Nicolas the best on this new “stage” of his carrer.

Sadly, it was finally announced that the San Francisco production of Wicked will play its final performance at the Orpheum Theatre on September 5th.

After having played 660 performances and 12 previews, producer David Stone said, “Seven years ago, the first Wicked company came to San Francisco to develop this show and present the world premiere prior to Broadway. The entire creative team immersed themselves in the show’s launch at the Curran Theatre. San Francisco embraced us then, made us feel welcome, and supported us as we did our work. We feel a special connection here in the Bay Area, and this extended engagement has allowed us to become an integral part of San Francisco. Wicked has had great success in every city it has played, but it is perhaps most gratifying to have had such a successful run in the city we call home.”

Wicked made its world premiere in San Francisco on May 28, 2003, prior to arriving on Broadway. The musical returned to San Francisco in August 2005 to play a limited six-week engagement. On Jan. 27, 2009, the show returned home to San Francisco to play this current extended Bay Area engagement.

The cast currently features Eden Espinosa as the misunderstood, green-faced witch Elphaba with Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda, Jody Gelb as Madame Morrible, Tom McGowan as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Nicolas Dromard as Fiyero, Paul Slade Smith as Doctor Dillamond, Deedee Magno Hall as Nessarose and Etai BenShlomo as Boq.

Today I bring you an emotional story written by my two good friends Terri Dien and Jaqueline To. They were fortunate enough to see Teal perform in her last show. Here is what happened that day…

Photo by Beth Alfabeto

Greetings, Wicked Fans! My name is Terri Dien and I’m here to recount the events of Teal Wicks’ last San Francisco performance as Elphaba on Sunday, February 28. From my humble opinion, I have never witnessed a more beautiful day filled with love and camaraderie!

Many were worried about the weekend as Teal came out of stage door after Thursday night’s performance gesturing and not talking but still very sweet and accommodating to the fans. Perhaps Teal would not go on for her last day? There had been much rumor and speculation… innuendo… outuendo… Shudder the thought!

Danielle M., she flew out to San Francisco all the way from Idaho to catch Teal’s last weekend… she met up with us after the Saturday Matinee and managed to score a ticket for the Saturday evening show from the Wicked Ticket Lottery. Vicki Noon, Elphaba standby, was quite amazing that evening. But by intermission, we had it on good authority that Teal would in fact be performing on Sunday. We went home after a great show to try to sleep.

Personally, I had seen Teal perform nearly 38 times since Wicked opened in San Francisco last January. I had promised myself to take every opportunity to see her as many times as possible. I was filled with accomplishment and satisfaction – soaking it up, as it were, but also twinged with sadness knowing it would be my last time seeing Teal as Elphaba.

Sunday morning came early. I checked facebook and saw that Jacqueline was up and had already posted a new status update at 6:42am. Wow! Early bird!! I got myself together quickly and decorated 4 dozen cupcakes I made the day before to give out to fans and the cast. Two kinds: Wicked (chocolate with crème de menthe buttercream) and Popular (lemon with strawberry buttercream). Jacqueline and her housemate Jena came to pick me up at 10am. We piled into my car and drove up to the Orpheum Theatre.

Emotions were flying. Bittersweet, for we knew this would not be the last time for Teal. We are all looking forward to what she will bring for her next projects. She’s got so much talent the sky’s the limit for this girl! Excitement, for we knew it would be an amazing day to see the fans come out to support Teal!

Fact: Fans of Teal Wicks (a.k.a. TWickies) support each other (and Teal) unconditionally.

We arrived at the box office early to meet up with other fans and put our own names into the ticket lottery drawing to help those without tickets. As we waited for the lottery to commence, we shared cupcakes, chatted with one another and handed out Twickies buttons for others to wear.

Before the show, Jacqueline was fortunate enough to get through the stage door to present a few meaningful gifts to Teal. First, she explained to Teal how the TWickies all came together to collaborate on a t-shirt to wear for this important day. She gave Teal a few t-shirts, mugs and some other souvenir items from the Zazzle store set up in her honor. She went on to explain that proceeds from the sales of the Twickies products were donate to the American Red Cross to help with their earthquake relief efforts in Haiti and Chile. The T-shirt project is something I am particularly proud of – I helped get Jacqueline in touch with a graphic artist who, with the input and suggestions from the TWickies, created the design for the t-shirts. Jacqueline helped create the ordering site on Zazzle.com and disseminated the information to everyone on how to order his or her shirts.

Among other gifts presented to Teal were some fun things like a bottle of nail polish, a candy glam ring, a beautiful new hat and, most meaningful of all: a calendar Jacqueline created that included photos of Teal with fans and collages of Teal in various benefit appearances throughout the year. It was a terrific gift for Teal to look back on 2009 and see how many people she touched while she was here in San Francisco.

Jacqueline has always been so terrific in showing her support for Teal and Wicked SF and she’s also so incredibly generous with getting other fans involved. Did you know that she’s the one behind the Fans of Teal Wicks twitter account – tweeting updates every night to let others know if Teal is performing? Did you also know that she created the Fans of Teal Wicks group on Facebook, which enabled fans from all over the country meet, discuss and share all things Teal and Wicked-related? She single-handedly galvanized the hundreds of TWickies together for one purpose: to show Teal how much she is loved and appreciated.

The energy was palpable as the audience filtered into their seats before the show began. TWickies were approaching one another, greeting with hugs and handshakes, recognizing each other from their facebook photos.

I was getting more tense and emotional the closer the time got to curtain. I felt like I was going to burst into tears any second. The emotional wave crashed over me finally at the beginning of the first act. During the very first number, as soon as Glinda came down in the bubble. This was it – the last Teal Wicks performance in San Francisco had begun. Months went into preparing for this day; and suddenly I didn’t want it to happen. Tears were streaming down my face but I waited for the appropriate times when the cast turned away from the audience to wipe them away.

As soon as the doors opened and Teal came running down, the audience erupted in loud cheers and applause for her. It was wonderful to see Elphaba! Teal performed beautifully through the first act. Only those who knew she had a sore throat could tell the difference in her performance – the rest of the audience, seeing her for perhaps the first time were impressed, as always. I continued crying – so proud of this gorgeously talented girl.

Things were going well — we all laughed and cheered Teal on through the first act. Then, suddenly, I knew it was the end. Teal struggled with difficulty through the top range of Defying Gravity. The TWickies roared and cheered her on until the lights went out. I cried even more from the amount of love and support there was.

At the end of intermission, an announcement came to say that Vicki Noon would be continuing the role of Elphaba for the remainder of the performance. Three of us, seated in a row, hung our heads, but applauded as encouragement and appreciation.

Surprisingly, the tension and anxiety I felt in the first act faded away and I was able to concentrate on the play and enjoy it more. Vicki again was her stellar self as Elphaba. I stopped crying and felt more relaxed. Second act went by rather quickly.

At the end of the play, during the curtain call, Kendra Kassebaum (Glinda) beckoned and coaxed Teal out of the wings. The audience erupted with roaring cheers and screams again to see Teal, this time, dressed in her street clothes.

Kendra made a lovely and sweet speech, and said how much Teal will be missed. I think you can actually see the video on the Fans of Teal Wicks group on Facebook. I don’t remember much; I was too busy crying again.

Seconds later, we were all out on the street in front of the stage door with seemingly hundreds of people waiting for Teal and her castmates. The atmosphere felt like a street festival – everyone chatting, hugging, taking pictures and just generally happily visiting with one another.

Finally, with a huge welcoming whoop from the crowd, Teal came out of the stage door. The wave of energy felt like a gigantic group hug! There were so many people there to see her! TWickies were all there in full force, taking photos of each other, with cast members and in groups… it felt like some kind of reunion party… only it was technically a farewell gathering!

Teal was so sweet to take time out for each person who wanted to see her. A few words were exchanged, hugs, a picture or two… I couldn’t stop smiling I was so happy for her! And Neka Zang (Witches’ Mother)!!! That lovely woman stole the show by asking Teal to sign her TWickies button! I gave her a button to wear and she turned it into the coolest collector’s item by getting Teal’s autograph on it!

Everyone was so patient and respectful of each other. Everyone politely waited for their turn to say good-bye to Teal, to wish her well, to thank her and to hug her. Teal just glowed – she was so happy and deeply touched by everyone’s well wishes. Jacqueline, caught up in all of the positive energy, acted as the de facto traffic cop, calling out, “NEXT!” for everyone’s turn to talk to Teal. I think it was well over an hour and a half Teal spent outside the stage door with everyone. After one huge group TWickies photo with Teal (seemingly 8 different cameras!), we all disbanded, wishing Teal good luck and thanks.

A few of us went out for an early dinner before we all went our separate ways home. When I got home, it didn’t take long to see how busy the TWickies had been – within just an hour photos from the stage door were already cropping up on Facebook! The curtain call video had been uploaded and shared before midnight.

I’m not sure if any other actress who performed as Elphaba ever got such a wonderful send-off as Teal did; and I’m not comparing one to the other, but from what I witnessed last Sunday, Teal’s fans have so much love to give. All of this could not have happened without Jacqueline’s efforts. I’m so glad Teal was there to receive the send-off she deserved! She will truly be missed; but we all look forward to the next project in her rising career!

I’m sorry this blog was so long, but it was a very intense day filled with lots of meaningful events and awesome people. Added up, it was just One Short Day in the great career of the fabulous Miss Teal Wicks!